There are many ways to explore and analyze public health. Oftentimes, scientists use a person’s DNA as a method to unlock underlying causes of diseases. However, the best health predictor may not be lying in genetic code, but in one’s ZIP code.

The connection between ZIP codes and human health has long been of interest to researchers desiring to find the best treatment and prevention strategies for some of our deadliest diseases. Land use laws and zoning regulations have transformed some communities and neighborhoods into dumping grounds for industrial plants or undesirable toxic waste. The long-lasting effects of housing segregation and envornmental racism have also had a disparate impact on minorities, reflected in subpar living conditions. Now, some scientists are attempting to explore the importance of ZIP codes as they relate to disease prevention. 

“ZNA”

Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institute of Health, recently noted that our ZIP code at birth is our “ZNA,” “the blueprint for our behavioral and psychosocial make-up.” The air we breathe and the water we drink has just as much of an impact on human health as our genetic code, if not more so. While genetics can inform and shape our health, so too do three other factors: social determinants, community social environments, and physical environments.

Social determinants of health are aspects like income and inequality. Community social environments include crime rates or the particular affluence of a neighborhood. Physical environment means the walkability of a neighborhood or if industrial plants are located near one’s housing. All of these factors overlap each other, influencing one’s health in both direct and indirect manners–some of which may be invisible. Research has indicated that these determinants and influences may have a more powerful impact on health than individual biological differences do.

Housing Patterns and Health Consequences

There are a variety of ways that living in a particular community can affect one’s health. For example, the physical condition of a home can have a profound impact on residents’ health. Building codes in one neighborhood may be more dangerous than in a more affluent one. Disparities in health outcomes across communities are often demonstrated by lead poisoning and asthma. Older homes may have mold or cockroaches, which could also exacerbate underlying health issues.

Land use characteristics, such as residential density, employment opportunities, and walking trails or open spaces, can promote activity and foster a healthy living environment. Zoning also plays a critical role in determining public health. As noted by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), zoning can be instrumental in promoting healthy eating habits and physical activity. Zoning can be utilized to reduce the density of fast food restaurants in a community, incentivize farming in urban areas, and even restrict fast food spots from developing within a specified distance of schools. Additionally, requiring sidewalks, promoting parks and recreation, and widening access to public transportation all play vital roles in increasing physical activity through zoning measures.

Health Mapping

The growth of geographic information science (GIS) and the availability of electronic health records (EHR) now allow for scientists to analyze socioeconomic and environmental factors better than ever before. Health geography has long been an area of medical research that uses geographic techniques to study the impacts of one’s surroundings on their health.

One of the earliest studies employing maps to study dieases was in London, by Dr. John Snow, regarded as one of the fathers of epidemiology. To study the location of cholera outbreaks and deaths in the 1850’s, Dr. Snow used hand-drawn maps showing the location of cholera deaths and then superimposed those with maps of the public water supplies. This allowed him to uncover a cluster of deaths near a particular water pump. His research eventually became an area of study known as disease diffusion mapping, which refers to the spread of disease from a central source, spreading according to environmental patterns and conditions.

GIS utilizes digital software and data sets, along with spatial data, to map multiple aspects of a community. By using and manipulating this geospatial data, researchers are able to thoroughly study the relationship between health, illness, and place. Additionally, EHR can allow scientists to link collected data about the environment with patient medical records. The combination of these powerful tools lends itself well to a broader picture of the interrelationship between ZIP codes, housing conditions and patterns, and human health.

“Not In My Backyard” and Environmental Racism

When development is proposed for a particular community, the most powerful voices can be heard helping to shape the course of the project. “Not In My Backyard” or NIMBY, is a characterization of residents who concede that while a particular project may need to be completed, it should be further away from their community. Projects that could be opposed are practically limitless: any type of housing development, homeless shelters, adult entertainment clubs, and any type of hazardous plants or waste repositories, to simply name a few.

The people who have the power to shape zoning and land use laws in an area tend to be the wealthiest citizens, and usually are white. Thus, more dangerous or undesirable projects are pushed into communities without the bargaining power required to stop them. This type of thinking inevitability promotes environmental racism, utilizing segregated, low-income, minority neighborhoods as the dumping ground for toxic byproducts. This discrimination in land use and zoning policy, particularly fueled by “NIMBY” mindsets, is resulting in increasing health disparities.

What Has Research Uncovered?

Studies have documented that while genetics are an important predictor of health, these other factors have a more powerful impact on health than biology. Income and educational attainment are at least as strongly associated with hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes as particular clinical risk factors. Moreover, those living in areas with less resources for physical activity or healthy food choices have a much higher chance of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

There are dramatic differences in life expectancy rates depending on where one was born in the U.S. In places in the Northeast, populations have a higher life expectancy, while places in the South have the lowest life expectancy rates. These inequalities in mortality rates are intimately tied to housing instability and crowded or subpar housing conditions. In a study of 12,000 New York City households, asthma was more prevalent in Puerto Rican households, immediately followed by other Latino and black households. Moreover, rates of asthma are twice as high in children under the age of 13 in the South Bronx, North/Central Brooklyn, and East/Central Harlem–the three neighborhoods with the highest rates of poverty, morbidity, and mortality in the city.

Additionally, another study utilizing four nationally representative studies noted that worsening economic standing was associated with poor healthcare access, a lack of health insurance, and far higher hospitalization rates. Research has also found that estimated cancer risks associated with ambient air toxics were highest in metropolitan tracts that were highly segregated, and that residential segregation is associated with elevated risks of adult and infant mortality.

The American Housing Survey (AHS) is sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is considered to be the most comprehensive national housing survey in the U.S. It takes a large representative longitudinal sample of houses on both the state and national level. The most recent survey was completed in 2013, and the results are telling. Data shows that 9.2 percent of non-Latino black homes and 7.2 percent of Latino homes have moderate or severe physical problems, compared with only 3.2 percent of non-Latino White homes.  These numbers are staggering, illustrating a serious issue across the country.

Conclusion

Health-related disparities due to housing can be eliminated if proper measures are taken. For example, childhood blood lead levels have improved by 90 percent since the 1970’s, after effective measures were implemented. Housing conditions continue to be among the greatest determinants of human health, as a large list of highly preventable diseases are intimately tied to poor housing. 

National research and multiple academic reports have continued to affirm that housing access and conditions are among the largest determinants of health, both physical and environmental. There are still numerous roadblocks preventing this issue from being rectified. Significant challenges remain when it comes to legislating and securing meaningful public policies that prevent exposure to physical and environmental hazards, whether it be minimizing indoor pollutants or building high-quality low-income housing. Pervasive housing segregation remains embedded in neighborhoods and cities across the country, adding another layer of difficulty. With the proper focus, combating some of America’s most problematic diseases could be more effective than any other previous attempts.

Resources

Primary

CDC: Zoning to Encourage Healthy Eating

CDC: GIS and Public Health at CDC

Additional

Newsweek: Why Zip Code May Influence Health More Than Genetic Code

Public Health Law Center: Land Use/Zoning

CityLimits.org: Building Justice: Genetic Code, ZIP Code and Housing Code All Affect Health and Equality

CityLimits.org: Builiding Justice: NYC’s Sacrifice Zones and the Environmental Legacy of Racial Injustice

EnvironmentalChemistry.com: Environmental Justice and the NIMBY Principle

GIS Lounge: Overview of Public Health and GIS

Nicole Zub

Nicole is a third-year law student at the University of Kentucky College of Law. She graduated in 2011 from Northeastern University with Bachelor’s in Environmental Science. When she isn’t imbibing copious amounts of caffeine, you can find her with her nose in a book or experimenting in the kitchen. Contact Nicole at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The world’s first baby conceived using a new technique that combines the DNA from three people has been born. The baby boy was actually born in April, but it is now being reported that he seems to be in good health. The issue of combining three people’s DNA is a controversial one, posing questions about ethics and the possibility of intelligent design of embryos. But in this case, Dr. John Zhang at the New Hope Fertility Center in New York decided it was the more ethical choice.

The parents, who are Jordanian, had already endured four miscarriages and the death of a daughter who lived until the age of six, as well as a baby who only lived for eight months. The problem was that the mother carries genes for the hereditary disease Leigh syndrome, which harms the developing nervous system. It affects the body’s mitochondria, which is the structure that provides our cells with energy.

As a last resort to starting a family, they sought out the help of Dr. Zhang. The mitochondrial transfer procedure has only been legalized in the United Kingdom so far and is not used in the U.S. It basically involves taking the nucleus from one of the woman’s eggs, inserting it in a donor’s egg from which the nucleus has been removed, and then fertilizing it with the husband’s sperm. Zhang created five embryos, out of which only one developed normally. He then implanted the embryo in the woman.

Unanswered questions surround baby born to three parents https://t.co/gJewi2UOYN pic.twitter.com/oDGqRFyXG8

— ScienceInsider (@ScienceInsider) September 28, 2016

Since it is not legal in the U.S., the procedure was carried out in Mexico, where there are no specific regulations. The fact that they had to leave the U.S. to perform the procedure created concern among some experts. But Dr. Zhang defended his decision. “To save lives is the ethical thing to do,” he said.

“This is great news and a huge deal. It’s revolutionary,” said stem cell scientist Dusko Ilic from King’s College in London, where the procedure is legal. He added:

This was an ice-breaker. The baby is reportedly healthy. Hopefully, this will tame the more zealous critics, accelerate the field, and we will witness soon the birth of the first mitochondrial donation baby in the UK.

Creating embryos with three parents has actually been done before with another technique. In the 1990s, scientists tried injecting mitochondrial DNA from a female donor into the future mother’s egg, together with the father’s sperm. But some of the babies born developed genetic disorders so the procedure was banned.

One of the problems with mitochondrial transfer is that it doesn’t guarantee that your child will be healthy. Since the baby will still have some of the primary mother’s DNA, there is a slight risk that the child will inherit the disease that the procedure tried to avoid. Another aspect of the debate is the notion that this type of disease affects very few women, and it would be a better strategy to invest research money into diseases that affect more individuals, or to find a treatment for the disease. Some worry it could also lead to intelligent design of babies, meaning we could maybe in the future pick which traits we want in our children and dismiss others.

But in February a panel of researchers in the U.S. recommended the government allow scientific tests of the technique, deeming it ethical as long as it is used to create male embryos, since they cannot pass on mitochondrial diseases. So maybe a future of more babies with three parents is not that far away.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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At a closed-door meeting in May at Harvard Medical School, nearly 150 geneticists, biologists, and other members of the scientific community came together to discuss a top secret project. The topic of the meeting: manufacturing a human genome from scratch, piecing three billion strands of DNA together to form a fully operational cell. In a proposal published in the Science journal on Thursday, the contents of that hushed May meeting are laid bare for everyone in the science community and beyond to praise, prod, and ponder.

In the proposal, the authors praised the success of the Human Genome Project, the controversial but complete sequencing of the human genome that was completed in 2004, and rationalized their newest step–effectively the sequel to a similar project that fabricated a yeast chromosome–as such:

Although sequencing, analyzing, and editing DNA continue to advance at breakneck pace, the capability to construct DNA sequences in cells is mostly limited to a small number of short segments, restricting the ability to manipulate and understand biological systems.

The project, they added, would “push current conceptual and technical limits by orders of magnitude and deliver important scientific advances.”

All of this could be accomplished at a relatively cheap price. HGP-write, as the project has been designated, would be paid for by existing government funds with an estimated $100 million. As more of the scientific world rallies around the project, detractors are being slowly cajoled into supporting it. Jef Boeke, an NYU geneticist, told Science that he is a “conservative guy,” so he was reluctant to cosign the ambitious venture at first. But when reputed scientists from across the field hopped on board, he “became more and more convinced that this really was a good focus.”

Manipulating and unraveling the secrets of the cellular makeup of human beings has, since the concept crept from science fiction to science reality, been rife with moral dilemmas: should humans tinker with life’s essential building blocks, even if the technology existed to do so? Is it worth knowing the story of your DNA, regardless of its contents? So of course, HGP-write has its doubters.

“I think developing the tools to make large genetic sequences is an important human goal. Creating an entirely new [human] genomes—that’s a different kind of a project,” said Laurie Zoloth, a bioethicist at Northwestern University. The potential benefits are “not an adequate reason to take such an enormous moral step,” she added.

HGP-write’s 25 backers hope to begin work on the project later this year.

Alec Siegel

Alec Siegel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. When he’s not working at Law Street he’s either cooking a mediocre tofu dish or enjoying a run in the woods. His passions include: gooey chocolate chips, black coffee, mountains, the Animal Kingdom in general, and John Lennon. Baklava is his achilles heel. Contact Alec at ASiegel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Lewis & Clark Law School is now offering its students an innovative way to gain hands-on experience with criminal law. A new clinic called the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic is a collaboration between the law school and the Oregon Justice Resource Center (OJRC) and will benefit both law school students, and members of the community in need of legal resources.

The OJRC is a non-profit founded by Lewis & Clark Law School graduates in 2011. Its mission is to:

Dismantle systemic discrimination in the administration of justice by promoting civil rights and enhancing the quality of legal representation for traditionally underserved communities. In the spirit of this mission and in collaboration with other like-minded organizations, OJRC believes in an integrative, three-pronged approach to systemic change and achieving its goals in the core areas of criminal defense and wrongful convictions: 1) advocating for individual clients and systemic change in the law; 2) educating future social justice lawyers; and 3) engaging the community in a dialogue about our justice system.

I had the opportunity to talk to law Professor Aliza Kaplan, who is supervising the clinic, about its inception and goals. She explained that the students who are involved in the clinical program will have the option of being involved in three different projects, providing different ways to engage in the criminal justice system.

The first project involves working in tandem with the Oregon Innocence Project. The Oregon Innocence Project was launched by the OJRC just last year, and focuses on exonerating those who have been wrongly convicted by investigating their claims, re-testing crucial evidence like DNA, and following up on appeals if needed.

Another avenue for students to get involved is the Criminal Justice Project. It focuses on reforming the Oregon criminal justice system in a number of ways, including an arm that works directly on death penalty reform. The students who participate in the Criminal Justice Project will also have the opportunity to work on Eighth Amendment  and sentencing issues and to get involved in the Amicus Curiae Project. The Amicus Curiae Project “provides amicus assistance on the state level in cases that present significant social justice issues that are related to criminal defense, civil rights, juvenile justice, or are of particular importance to traditionally underserved communities,” says Kaplan.

The final project that clinical students can work on is a new endeavor called the “Reentry Law Project,” a joint project with Mercy Corps, which will provide much-needed legal services for people once they’ve been released from prison. There are myriad legal issues that people who have been released from prison face, including problems with immigration, healthcare, and housing.

The clinic offers new opportunities to students at Lewis & Clark Law School, and a valuable service to the Portland community. Law students interested in criminal justice issues were lacking an outlet through which to gain hands-on experience. Since the inception of the OJRC, students have been volunteering with the organization and gaining experience working in this field. The new clinical program will increase student involvement, participation, and benefits while meeting community need.

The OJRC has only been around since 2011, and the social justice issues it faces head on are just beginning to be recognized in Oregon. In doing so, the OJRC is tackling a massive field–the conversation about the inadequacies and difficulties inherent in our criminal justice system have never been more visible than they are now. Law school students, regardless of where they are attending school, are on the precipice of entering a legal environment that is being forced to confront these issues–getting hands on experience while still in law school can only strengthen the skills of the students once they enter that environment.

As Professor Kaplan explained to me, the OJRC has taken on a broad remit as an advocate for reform across a range of criminal legal issues as well as providing client services and raising the funds and awareness that are crucial to its success. For students, being part of the OJRC in an official role through the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic provides insights that cannot be found in a classroom. For the organization itself, the students’ contribution allows more to be achieved in less time, helping the OJRC to advance its mission in Oregon more quickly and more profoundly.

Lewis & Clark Law School

With robust practical skills options, flexible scheduling, and a faculty invested in your success, Lewis & Clark Law School is an ideal place to start a legal career. The school’s innovative programs, such as the NCVLI, CJRC, and the criminal law certificate program, offer students the opportunity to learn and work in a rigorous, collegial environment in scenic Portland, Oregon. Learn more at law.lclark.edu. Lewis & Clark Law School is a partner of Law Street Creative. The opinions expressed in this author’s articles do not necessarily reflect the views of Law Street.

https://law.lclark.edu/

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A 20-year-old Idaho murder case is currently stirring up concerns about police use of private genetic databases and the limitations of controversial familial DNA searches. The controversy is coming to light after a man named Michael Usry was accused of murder after police linked him to DNA found at the crime scene. The catch was that the officers got their lead from the world’s largest and most popular for-profit genealogical website.

According to the New Orleans Advocate, gory New Orleans filmmaker Michael Usry became implicated in the gruesome rape and murder of an Idaho woman named Angie Dodge after a genome database owned by Ancestry.com released private DNA information to the Idaho Falls Police Department. The information indicated that Usry’s DNA could be a match to semen found on Dodge’s corpse.

On June 13, 1996, 18-year-old Dodge was found stabbed in her Idaho Falls apartment. The violent nature of the crime and desecration of Dodge’s body led the Idaho Falls Police Department to believe that it was a crime of passion and that she knew her attacker. An investigation and confession led police to charge a man named Christopher Tapp for the murder, but his conviction has has been widely criticized and there have been claims that he was wrongly convicted.

That’s where Usry comes in. Decades later police were still concerned that they were never able to match Tapp’s DNA to the semen found on Dodge’s stomach. Last year investigators turned to the controversial technique of familial DNA testing, which involves identifying potential suspects by analyzing the DNA’s Y chromosome and trying to find a family member of the perpetrator. According to the Advocate,

A promising “partial match” emerged between the semen sample and the genetic profile of Usry’s father, Michael Usry Sr. — a finding that excluded the father but strongly suggested one of his relatives had a hand in the young woman’s murder.

The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, a nonprofit purchased by Ancestry.com, had the elder Usry’s DNA samples from years ago when he submitted them through a project sponsored by the Mormon Church. What’s concerning is that according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the DNA samples collected by the nonprofit were only meant to be accessed and analyzed by the “principal investigator and the others specifically authorized by the Principal Investigator, including the SMGF research staff.” Despite this, the company shared the samples with the police without a warrant or court order.

This DNA sample obtained by the police reportedly partially matched  Usry Sr., but it also partially matched with 41 other samples in the database. However, police followed the lead from Usry Sr.’s DNA. Despite police being sure they’d finally found Dodge’s real killer, when they eventually compared Usry Jr.’s DNA to the sample from the crime scene, they discovered that he was not a match.

The reason why this man’s case is so important is because police use of private DNA databases without authorization from the courts threatens all Americans’ privacy and civil liberties. The people who submitted their DNA to this company did so under the guise that their information would be protected, but this controversy is proof that that was simply not the case.

This case also adds further scrutiny to the controversial method of familial testing. Fans of familial testing see it as a way to crack unsolvable cases, but the potential discrepancies and large pools of related DNA hardly make it a perfect science. Just a few weeks ago the FBI found itself in similar deep water after it was uncovered that its experts gave flawed forensic testimony in many trials in recent decades. That revelation scrutinized the accuracy of microscopic hair analysis, also said to be an imperfect science.

These cases make it clear that the forensic world could use more advancements to generate greater certainty when it comes to DNA analysis. It also makes you wonder how many innocent people weren’t as lucky as Usry and are behind bars because of less than perfect DNA matches.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Congratulations on surviving another Halloween, everyone! While recovering from your big night, you might as drag out the holiday a bit more and freak yourself out a little with all the weird things that people have gotten themselves arrested for this week. Check out the top five weird arrests from this week.

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Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Watch any legal drama on TV — Criminal Minds, Law and Order, CSI, NCIS — and you’ll probably see at least a few suspects caught, or exonerated, through DNA testing. But how is DNA testing actually used in the real world? Read on to learn about DNA testing, its benefits, and its problems.

What is DNA testing?

DNA evidence is used to identify criminals or exonerate the falsely accused. Its technological advancement has led to widespread acceptance in crime scenes across the country. Today, the federal government and twenty six state governments allow genetic swabs to be taken without a warrant. In June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that DNA could be tested after an arrest, before a trial and conviction.

“When officers make an arrest supported by probable cause to hold for a serious offense and they bring the suspect to the station to be detained in custody, taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee’s DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment,” the majority wrote.

What are the arguments for DNA testing?

Proponents tout the advantages of DNA testing such as helping solve difficult cases and exonerating the wrongfully accused. According to the Innocence Project, more than three hundred wrongfully convicted individuals have been freed due to post-exoneration DNA testing. The government has created grants to help fund the research and development of DNA testing. It is especially helpful in identifying missing persons, solving cold cases, forensic backlog reduction and conviction accuracy. It has been called the most significant advance in criminal investigation because it ultimately leads to a higher rate of accuracy keeping dangerous criminals off the street.

DNA evidence most often remedies cases in which there was:

• Eyewitness Misidentification or Lying: Often, juries and judges listen to an eyewitness, especially if they seem confident, compelling, or convincing. However, as humans we aren’t perfect, and it’s entirely possible that eyewitnesses can make mistakes. Witnesses can also lie, possibly because they were coerced to do so. Informants are sometimes used in criminal trials, but they’re not always the most valuable witnesses because they’re usually testifying because they will get something out of it, such as a reduced sentence of their own.
• Forensic Mistake: There are some forensic techniques, especially older and more technologically rudimentary forensic testing methods that seem sound but actually have never been fully subjected to rigorous review. These can include things such as bite mark and shoe mark comparisons.
• False Confessions: It is also possible that a defendant lies. Whether out of confusion, coercion, fear, or any other reason, DNA has revealed that a confession was fabricated.
• Police or other law enforcement mistake: Police officers are also fallible. Whether mistakes are accidental or made on purpose varies, but it’s entirely possible that a police officer could make a mistake by not paying attention, due to corruption, or personal biases. DNA testing can help sort out where those mistakes were made.
• Lawyer Mistakes: Lawyers also aren’t perfect. Public defenders don’t always have the time or resources to launch a full defense, which can lead to false convictions.

What are the arguments against forensic DNA testing?

Opponents are concerned about the credibility of the process surrounding DNA testing. An investigation of eight hundred and forty three rape cases revealed that the technician had failed to document DNA evidence in twenty six sexual assault cases and had assigned the evidence to the wrong case in twenty six instances. Scientists have also reported that it is possible to fabricate blood and saliva samples containing DNA, essentially giving someone the ability to engineer an entire crime scene.

There have also been arguments against the way in which we as a state hoard DNA. Often when people are arrested, a DNA sample is collected, just like fingerprints are taken. But collecting the DNA isn’t always that effective. For example in 2011, the state of Maryland collected roughly 11,000 DNA samples, and less than 20 led to an arrest. Although there is limited and restricted access to DNA storage systems, they may get hacked or leaked by government officials who access these every day. Crime lab testing in general has numerous reports of sloppiness, inadequate training, and bias throughout the country.

Case Study

Michael Phillips

Michael Phillips was accused of raping a young woman in 1990. He pled guilty, not because he was guilty but because of the advice of his attorney. Phillips was a black man, the victim a white woman. And in Texas, a jury trial probably would have convicted him and sentenced him to a much worse punishment than what he received by pleading guilty. The young woman had also picked him out of a lineup, making the likelihood that he would be found guilty through a jury trial even more likely.

He was exonerated through DNA testing almost 25 years later. Through DNA testing of the rape kit performed on the victim, officials were able to determine that another man had raped the victim. Craig Watkins, the Dallas County District Attorney, released a statement saying:

DNA tells the truth, so this was another case of eyewitness misidentification where one individual’s life was wrongfully snatched and a violent criminal was allowed to go free. We apologize to Michael Phillips for a criminal justice system that failed him.

Conclusion

DNA testing is an important tool that can be used to find the guilty party and rule out those who have not committed the crime. But it’s not a magical solution to all law enforcement problems. It needs to be used carefully and responsibly to make sure that our criminal justice system is always fair.

Resources

Primary 

ABA: Standards on DNA Evidence

National Institute of Justice: DNA Initiative

Additional

The Innocence Project: Home

CNN: Supreme Court: DNA swab after arrest is legitimate search

PBS: The DNA “Wars” Are Over

DNA Resource: Forensic DNA Policy

Law Office of Kevin P. O’Donnell: Is DNA Evidence Always As reliable As We Think?

The New York Times: DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show

FSI Genetics: Authentication of forensic DNA samples

Congressional Research Service: DNA Testing in Criminal Justice: Background, Current Law, Grants, and Issues

NOLO: DNA Evidence in Criminal Cases

Lawyers: Use of DNA in Criminal Investigations

Law Street Media Staff

Law Street Media Staff posts are written by the team at Fastcase and Law Street Media

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